captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, april 11: the united states and cuba take another step toward normalizing relations; the obamas release their tax returns-- what they paid and what they gave; and in our signature segment, the future of solar energy-- is hawaii a case study of what might go wrong? >> we drive up, and you have these lovely solar panels on your roof. how's that working out for you? >> ( laughs ) it's not! >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios in lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening. thanks for joining us. >> president obama met with rule, the first meeting of its kind in more than 50 years and the latest in a series of developments pointing towards a normalization of relations between the two countries this after a widely photographed handshake last night and a phone call between the two men earlier in the week. the newshour's william brangham has more. >> reporter: at the summit of the americas meeting today in panama, both president obama and

cuban president raul castro hailed the recent improvements in relations between their two long-estranged nations. >> this shift in u.s. policy represents a turning point for our entire region. the fact that president castro and i are both sitting here today marks an historic occasion. and i firmly believe that if we can continue to move forward and seize this momentum in pursuit of mutual interests, then better relations between the united states and cuba will create new opportunities for cooperation across our region. >> reporter: president castro offered a litany of complaints about ongoing u.s. treatment of his country but said he didn't hold obama responsible for what came before his presidency, including the economic blockade the u.s. has maintained against cuba for over half a century. >> ( translated ): we have publicly expressed to president obama our recognition of his valiant decision to involve himself in a debate with the congress of his country to put an end to the blockade against cuba.

>> reporter: hours later the two leaders had their private meeting. last night they shook hands, yet another public gesture of good they made headlines with another handshake in 2013 at nelson mandela's funeral in south africa. the gathering in panama is just the latest step in president obama's efforts to renew relations with cuba, which have been frozen since president dwight eisenhower severed diplomatic relations over concerns that fidel castro was turning his island nation into an outpost of soviet communism. but last december, after 18 months of secret talks president obama announced the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries and urged what he called a "serious debate" about lifting the economic embargo this weekend's summit of the america's meeting was the first time u.s. officials didn't block cuba's attendance at the gathering. >> sreenivasan: hundreds of mourners gathered in south carolina today to pay respects to walter scott, the unarmed african-american man gunned down last week by a north charleston police officer. the shooting, which was recorded

by a bystander, showed scott being shot in the back as he ran away from officer michael slager. slager was later fired and charged with murder. scott's casket, draped by an american flag, was wheeled into his family church as loved ones arrived. other events honoring scott were held throughout the city last night and today. a second man has been charged in connection with that alleged foiled plot to set off a car bomb at an army base in kansas. alexander blair was charged with failing to report a felony. if convicted, he could face up to three years imprisonment. authorities claim he knew of john booker's plans to plant the bomb in an effort to kill as many soldiers as possible at fort reily. booker was arrested yesterday in an f.b.i. sting operation. a muslim cleric said today booker is mentally ill. to mark the upcoming fifth anniversary of the "deepwater horizon" explosion and the huge gulf oil spill that followed the obama administration is set to announce new regulations covering offshore oil and gas drilling. this, according to the "new york times." the newspaper says the administration will propose tightening safety requirements

on what are known as blowout preventers, what it describes as the last line of protection to prevent explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. even as it moves to tighten safety rules, the obama administration has signaled that it will open up new areas in the atlantic to drilling. the president and first lady have made public their tax returns, and they show that the obamas' adjusted gross income last year was a little less than $500,000. that's actually the lowest amount since 2004 as royalties from the president's book sales declined. the obamas paid more than $93,000 in taxes, just less than 20% of their income; and they donated more than $70,000 to charity, nearly 15% of their income. a florida eye clinic has agreed to pay one of its former employees $150,000 after being sued by the federal government for alleged transgender discrimination. the equal employment opportunity commission said brandi branson was wrongfully fired after transitioning from male to female. activists say the ruling could

help establish new legal protections for transgender americans. >> sreenivasan: for more about the summit of the americas and the changing u.s.-cuban relationship, we are joined now by carla robbins. she is an adjunct senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. so, why was this meeting so important? >> it's been a very very long time since there's been any contact, certainly this level, i think. we're talking about batista and eisenhower. it's a very very long time. >> sreenivasan: cuba started-- i should say the president of cuba started his eight-minute speech and told everybody i'm going to go longer because-- >> it's the castro way. actually, 50 is short for them 50 minutes. >> sreenivasan: when he spoke, he railed against sort of historical u.s. foreign policy but said i'm not holding the president of the united states, barack obama responsible for this almost apologized to him. >> he did apologize to him.

i'm not sure he did a lot of favors in american politics by doing that. it was sort of a very weird, dissident moment. this was a classic castro performance, much more his brother than raul, to condemn the united states, and saying, of course, it's not you, you youngster pup weren't responsible for it. >> sreenivasan: juxtapose that from open hostility from the leader of venezuela, the leader of ecdo, right now, really speaking at the president and saying here's why the united states is a horrible place and a horrible country. >> on the other hand everybody else was embraced obama for many, many reasons, of course. in good part, also, because he decided to end the hostility toward cuba. i mean, they had insisted on this at the last two summits, saying it's time for this relic of the cold war to be over with. >> sreenivasan: what does it take to lift the sanctions, what are the chances? >> lifting the sanctions that's the embargo and obama can't do that.

that was written into law. it was a matter of presidential executive order from kennedy to clinton, written in the 70s and signed by clinton. the president has a lot of room to maneuver and the first they think has to happen is taking cuba off the terrorism list and the cubans are insisting on that saying they're not going to restore diplomatic relations unless that happens. >> sreenivasan: what are the political consequences if he were to take cuba off the terrorist list today or tomorrow? >> they'll do it. a few days ago he said he has gotten his recommendation but will not tell us what it's going to be. they will do it. but every single move they take in the next week days hours whenever it's going to be, every move they're going to be making they're going to be thinking about the fact they have to worry about the iran negotiations, and it's the same group of people that are going to be complaining about it, and ultimately, at the end of the day, the iran negotiations are the thing that matter most. >> sreenivasan: is there an advantage for the president to wait than declare something today? >> it's three-dimensional chess.

i could game it. yomay want to do it all at once any get on over with. marco rubio is going to declare on monday and there will be a lot of complaining about the embrace today-- not literal embrace but certainly the handshake. on the other hand, you really do have to worry about that legislation that they're contemplating that they'll be hearing on tuesday about iran on the hill, the question about iran. there's no question that it's gog remain on the list of the state sponsors of terrorism. and these things come together with the same group of people. and obama's argument is you don't negotiate with your friend. you do with your enemies. at the same time, it's impossible to do avoid having them conflated. >> sreenivasan: all right carla robbins adjunct senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment. tonight, we take you to hawaii a state whose residents have the highest monthly electricity bills in the nation. after all, it takes plenty of

time and money to ship oil there, so it makes sense that more and more hawaiians are turning to an another potentially less expensive source of energy, one that's all around them-- the sun. but converting to solar energy has proven anything but simple in hawaii, and what's happening there could be a preview of things to come elsewhere in the nation. newshour special correspondent mike taibbi reports from oahu hawaii. >> reporter: they're everywhere on oahu-- on the roofs of businesses, libraries and one house after another. the amount of rooftop solar now accounts for 12% of the electric utility's users. that's more than 20 times the national average. it's by far the highest penetration of individual rooftop solar in the country. but in this tropical state, where the combination of sky- high energy prices, abundant sunshine and federal and state tax credits makes going solar a no-brainer, the very popularity of these panels has become a problem. so, we drive up, and you have

these lovely solar panels on your roof. how's that working out for you? >> ( laughs ) it's not! >> reporter: not working out because by the time aircraft mechanic carlton ho joined the rooftop solar parade in september 2013, there were so many people in his area that had installed panels that the local utility company told him "don't turn on that switch yet." so it's just a question of turning the switch on and you have juice. >> yeah. >> reporter: from your own roof. >> and everything is awesome! >> reporter: but it's not that simple. when you install solar panels, you're still reliant on the local utility. when it's dark or when the sun isn't shining, you need the grid to provide electricity. even so, solar customers have a fundamentally different relationship with the utility because when the sun is shining any extra energy their panels generate is supplied back to the grid. that earns a credit, further reducing their electric bill. but in areas of oahu, with so many homeowners going solar, the utility said the safety and

reliability of the grid could be threatened, and it slowed to a crawl the approval of new systems. >> we've made a lot of progress, but we know there is still a lot to do as we increase rooftop solar. >> reporter: colton ching is vice president for energy delivery at hawaiian electric company, or heco as the utility is known. >> what was happening was that power, which normally flows from the grid to our customers, was now beginning to flow back into those substations, substations which were not 30, 40 years ago designed to operate in that manner. >> reporter: in addition, heco had a hard time measuring all that solar. >> right now, we don't know exactly how much power rooftop solar is producing at any given moment. >> reporter: so, you can't see at all what 10% to 20% of your customer base is producing? >> we cannot. we cannot see that. >> reporter: but while heco studied the problem, homeowners like carlton ho were left waiting. it had been a year and a half that his system had sat unused.

it's got to be frustrating. >> yes. like, you come home, you look at the panels on your ceiling, and you know you can't do anything with it. the bill comes every month. you know you've got two bills because i still have my financing. i have to pay for that. i have my electric bills, so... >> reporter: ho was left paying his regular electric bill, about $150 a month, plus another $240 a month in payments for the $23,000 solar panels he'd bought but couldn't use. >> hawaiian electric needs to and has taken steps to work with our customers to find solutions that works for them and works for the grid. and we haven't been perfect. it hasn't been a perfectly smooth process. >> reporter: there have been some ugly moments, frankly. >> there have been some very, very tough moments. it's been learning moments for us within the utility. >> reporter: and for the solar industry, which took a big hit when the utility slowed new approvals; there were hundreds of layoffs and stockpiles of solar equipment.

but those solar customers waiting to turn on their systems or even get permission to start construction knew that going solar would still be a good deal; a system up and running would reduce their energy bills dramatically. in the meantime, non-solar customers-- still the majority-- were paying much more to maintain the public grid than those with their own panels on the roof, a disparity heco suggested could be unfair. >> it makes sense that everyone who uses the grid should pay their share to maintain and improve it because everyone benefits from it. >> reporter: heco says that non- solar customers have in a sense been subsidizing those with rooftop solar when it comes to keeping the grid humming, a cost shift estimated at more than $50 million. all these problems-- delays, questions about grid reliability and fairness-- could soon be seen all across the country as the penetration of rooftop solar continues to increase. solar panels are no longer just for sunbelt states; even the

white house had panels installed last may. >> over the past few years, the cost of solar panels have fallen by 60%. solar installations have increased by 500%. >> reporter: but rooftop solar on a massive scale has consequences that are still being measured. >> the states on the mainland will eventually be having to deal with some of the issues that we're dealing with here. >> reporter: dr. marco mangelsdorf is a solar contractor who also teaches energy politics. hawaii has been called a" postcard from the future" because of how much rooftop solar is already out here. >> we are on the new frontier in hawaii as far as trying to come up with a practical, safe answer to a very, very difficult question which does not have a definitive answer. >> reporter: namely, just how much rooftop solar can the grid accommodate. and while delays for rooftop solar customers have angered many in hawaii, mangelsdorf

argues that the caution shown by the utility is warranted. >> you cannot allow a free-for- all-- anybody and everybody to connect to a utility grid without any type of requirements or monitoring-- just as you can't have anybody and everybody get on a freeway with a bicycle, with a horse, with a buggy, with a moped. i mean, the utility grid is a public good, public infrastructure that must be maintained. >> reporter: but some say delays in approving rooftop solar are less about prudence than about profit and preserving the utility's century-old business model as a monopoly. >> the problem is that they inherently don't want to see more of this rooftop solar, and they are also arbiters of what power can come on or what's reliable and what's safe. >> reporter: robert harris is director of public policy for sunrun, another solar contractor. he says that utilities are cautious by nature but that they can't ignore the changing landscape around rooftop solar. >> the comparison would be, for

example, the typewriter industry trying to stop computers because they want to preserve their own business model. and here you could argue that there's a better model out there that's going to be cheaper and cleaner. you know, we need to be working hard and trying to make that work better, not just trying to stop it. >> reporter: did heco fail in some fundamental way to see the future? >> i don't think we failed. i do... in hindsight, i do believe that we could have seen it sooner. we are undergoing a literal transformation process as we speak. it is this change in relationship, the change in the compact between the utility and its customers. it's no longer the monopoly utility that's making all of the decisions and passing it down to its customers. >> reporter: heco has approvals for rooftop solar moving again

and hopes to triple the amount of rooftop solar by 2030, but it may not be in a position to decide. last december, heco announced it was being sold to nextera, a florida-based utility giant. if the deal with nextera does go through, hawaii's electricity consumers will be serviced by a company that says it is committed to renewable energy sources-- at this point, primarily utility-scale solar and wind installations. that means big solar and wind farms, which today produce more renewable energy across the country than the small-scale rooftop systems that are so popular on hawaii. still, the old model, though: a utility producing all the power, just using a different source and selling it virtually as a monopoly. that is not the hawaii way, or at least the way many here have said they insist on going-- to have a choice. >> once we get this thing powered, yeah. a year and a half of frustration, we'll get over it. >> reporter: for carlton ho and his family, that day finally arrived after a year and a half of waiting. they got permission to turn that

switch on last month, and their solar system is now up and running. >> sreenivasan: see how some hawaii residents have managed to start living off the grid. watch our video online at www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: and now to the arts. more than 65 years ago, in the late 1940s, "life" magazine assigned acclaimed photographer gordon parks to shoot a piece depicting life for african- americans under segregation. he chose to return home and profile his former classmates in kansas. but the series was never published and the pictures never saw the light of day, until now. jared bowen of wgbh has our story. >> reporter: this was the picture that launched the museum of fine arts' karen haas on a curatorial quest to learn what brought photographer gordon parks back to fort scott, kansas, his hometown, in 1950. what she uncovered was a trove, a comprehensive look at black life under segregation.

>> he had the power to go back and tell the stories of african american families. friends of his, people who trusted him, who looked right into his camera and who really believed that he would do right by them, that he had this opportunity to sort of counter all the stereotypes of african americans. >> reporter: this exhibition comprises the photographs parks took on assignment for "life" magazine. he had pitched the story to return home to kansas for an extremely personal take on segregation. >> he decides to go back and seek out his classmates from elementary school, and it turns out it was the entire class of 1927 that he was looking for, all the 11 classmates, and to look at where their lives had gone and what their experiences had been in the 20-plus years since he had seen them. >> reporter: it wasn't easy for parks to return home. kansas and fort scott had been rife with racism throughout his

hardscrabble childhood. >> he was the youngest of 15 children. his father was a tenant farmer, his mother was a maid. he described his life as having been discriminated against and really felt the need to get away. >> reporter: as he tracked down his classmates some 20 years after he'd last seen them, he found that nearly all had moved away, some to chicago's south side. >> he found one friend, masel who was in very dire straits, and he described her as the class tragedy. she was living with an abusive husband who actually held up gordon parks with a gun and took all his money. >> reporter: she was the exception. by and large, parks found his classmates, like himself, had improved their lives. >> another classmate had found a very big job at campbell soup which apparently was a factory that hired a lot of african american workers. so, some people were living very

middle class lives but nearly all of the families that he met with were living in mostly african american neighborhoods. >> reporter: "life" magazine never published the parks story. haas speculates it was bumped for breaking news and by the time it could be published, the subjects' lives had already changed dramatically. so, here, 65 years later, parks' perspective finally sees the light of day. >> one very exciting thing is that we've recently reproduced one of the images from the exhibition of a little girl playing the piano with her mother sitting next to her. and just out of the blue have been contacted by this little girl who turns out to be now in her late 60s living in arizona, a fascinating story. had a wonderful conversation with her about her mother about growing up in chicago. and i'm thrilled to see that in many ways, her life was exactly what her mother had hoped for her, and she went on to do many of the things her mother was not

able to do in her own life. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> sreenivasan: when kevin carr crossed the finish line in devon, england, earlier this week, he completed a test of endurance and broke a record for running around the world in the fastest time. carr took on the challenge to raise awareness for mental illness, something he suffered from earlier in his life. i.t.n.'s rupert evelyn reports. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: for last 20 months, rick karr has run more than a marathon a day having left in the summer of 2013 he finally completes what is by any measure an epic journey. it has been both a physical and mental test of endurance for a man who by his own admission has had his own demons to overcome. >> i just want to prove if you have been mentally ill or are

suffering at the moment, you shouldn't let anyone tell you it's a weakness. i have literally taken on the world. >> reporter: millions of steps, thousands of miles, and the world record for running around the world. >> it's definitely uncomfortable, you know not fun. it's-- and for long stretches. you might have a bad month. >> reporter: mostly alone on a global road the world has thrown everything at him-- frozen in norway, bitten by mosquitoes in india and dwarfed by the andes but it was people who were the greatest threat. >> everyone asks about the bears wolf, scholarship yons, snakes and whatnot, it's really the bad roadses or bad driving and a mixture of the two. >> reporter: his journey took 621 days, during which time he covered 26 countries, more than 16,000 miles. that's an average of 31 miles a day. he got through 16 pairs of shoes, endured temperature

ranging from mine 26 to 40 degrees celsius, and consumed 10,000 calorieaise day. >> sreenivasan: so more news before we leave you. the u.s. capitol was placed on lockdown for several hours this afternoon after gunfire outside the building. police later determined it was a suicide. authorities also investigated a suspicious package lowest a terrace there. that's all for tonight. see you back here tomorrow. i'm hari sreenivasan. have a good captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

next on great performances bryan adams takes us back in time... ♪ it was the summer of '69 ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ ♪ just me and my baby in '69 ♪ when his music ruled the charts. ♪ you're all that i want ♪ ♪ when you're lying here in my arms ♪ ♪ i'm finding it hard to believe ♪ ♪ we're in heaven ♪ join us for an evening of rocking hits and love songs... ♪ everything i do ♪ ♪ do it for you ♪ with the distinctive voice of bryan adams in concert. ♪ when the feeling's right, i'm gonna run all night ♪ ♪ i'm gonna run to you ♪